Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and Shrine will celebrate the 129th anniversary of its devotion to the Blessed Mother on July 17.
Festivities will begin with a 7:30 a.m. Mass in English and 9 a.m. solemn Mass in Italian, followed by a procession with the statue to a noon field Mass. A procession through the streets of the parish afterward will culminate in a 4:30 p.m. benediction. The Sicilian Band of Chicago and Caliendo’s Banda Napoletana will perform during both processions, and food and beverages will be available for purchase during the day.
The Rev. Richard Fragomeni will preside over a 7:30 p.m. Novena that will run from July 8-16. Refreshments will be served each night after the Novena, and a grand raffle drawing will be held on the last night.
Related events include a 7 p.m. banner presentation on July 12, a 6 p.m. rose presentation on July 13, a 7 p.m. memorial service on July 14, a 6 p.m. dinner outdoors on church grounds on July 15, and 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mass in English on July 16.
The feast was launched when Emmanuela DeStefano commissioned a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and had it shipped to Melrose Park in time for the first celebration.
The first feast was held on DeStefano’s farmland at 25th and North avenues. A chapel was built at the turn of the 20th century on 24th Avenue, and the parish was established in 1905.
A new church was completed in 1909, a school in 1913, additional school buildings in 1950 and 1961, and a larger, modern church and shrine in 1968.
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